Where to start? Hey, guys, I am glad to welcome you to the course. And it's an honor for me to help you finally start moving forward to your most important goals. Please believe me, not only you will be happy, if we manage to implement something big, something deep, to make the smile on your face sincere and your eyes burn honestly as if from within. This course comprises four modules. The course "Lifetime project" consists of four very important stages. The first most important step is to get yourself right and let changes into your life. Our course, the first module on searching for a dream job, a part of the series on the lifetime project, is dedicated to how to stop procrastinating, putting off the most important, most valuable aspects of your life that deeply please you, those brightest dreams, those tasks, which take not a one-day effort, but a regular, several-day, -month, -year work that will get you closer to something big. We call it a "big apple" compared with a "small one”. You can enjoy something trivial today, like sleeping for extra 5 minutes, or you can do something worth getting up an hour earlier. Such big things, including your lifetime project — they, of course, refer to this category. And our first task, the most profound and solid, is the foundation for everything else to be built. On this foundation we will erect a skyscraper, we will find out why you keep procrastinating and what you should do to start moving in the direction of a big mission, inner realization, lifetime project, moving towards something huge that will allow you to level up, get out of routine, make a qualitative leap forward, unlock your potential, reveal yourself, boost your self-esteem, be useful, appreciated, valued in terms of money, and smile inside, having something to tell your schoolmates at the class reunion. So, our course is devoted to how to stop procrastinating. The first module will include only three tools, very simple. They compensate for the three main problems that prevent a person from moving forward. The first, very simple tool that people tend to use when they don’t want to move towards their dreams is the habit of looking for an alibi. What does "alibi" mean? It means "I have nothing to do with it. I am not involved in anything, life has just happened to me.” Later we will call it “excuse of a moose”. I'm just an observer, not a participant, life just happened to me, and is still happening. Different circumstances, economy crisis. My company is going through some changes, and so I have a very low salary and there is no chance to be promoted for me. My country is in crisis, so is my town. In my field there are problems, and my family have not been very supportive. Well, that’s the way the starts shine in the place where I come from. And all these circumstances make me a victim. Of course, I don’t really want to admit it, but there are objective reasons, "external", that prevent me from implementing my potential, for example, my education. Or, nowadays, knowing the right people is the key to everything, absolutely everything. One cannot find a decent job, it’s all about having friends in the right places. Moreover, in my town, there are no decent vacancies. So what can I do? Same as everybody can. It's too late for me or too early. And I'm "too something" already or "under-something" yet. Well, anyways, I'd better go and grab a bite, eat something, I need to refresh myself. When I have eaten something, I will be ready to solve the matters. This is an alibi. As an alternative to the "alibi" there is a concept of "personality." What is "personality"? It is an ability to resist external signals, the ability to express oneself, the ability to be a participant in this game, not a mere observer. It is an ability to draw a trajectory that I chose. The first important tool — instead of making an alibi, instead of shifting responsibility on people around, instead of the habit of finding resources insufficient or finding good reasons for not doing something, we will learn to take up responsibility. If you learn how to make up good alibis, working on yourself will be irrelevant. Then you can just keep finding excuses. So, the first very important tool — we must learn how to work on ourselves instead of looking for an alibi. The second tool is a red pen. Throughout our entire lives you and I have been taught to see our mistakes. You weren’t the first to start this, believe me, it wasn’t you. "The murder of a genius" happened years ago back at primary school. I bet your teacher used to take a red pen and ink your mistakes, you watching it. I hope that it wasn’t the case in your school, but it was in mine. In my school they inked mistakes, and the teachers, headmaster, tutors focused on my drawbacks, my weak points, my failures and low grades — this is what should have been dealt with. As for the things I was good at, they were considered a norm and taken for granted. Thus within school years they can grow a kind of an average man, standard man who is afraid of making mistakes. At that point the probability of spotting one’s own talents, finding oneself and one’s dream job, fulfilling oneself and moving towards one’s dreams was extremely small. In this course we will replace he tool called "red pen" with the one called "green pen". And we will remember the school subjects we were good at, we will find our talents, find the things we can succeed in and achieve, see what we are praised for, our uniqueness, what people around us can’t but notice. We will do a lot of exercises to move forward in the direction of the green pen. And this is a great job. Tool No.3. The third tool is solving the problem of the "fear of making a mistake." A huge number of people need guarantees, so they say: I cannot change my job, because there are no guarantees that the new job will be better in any way. Start up a business now? No way. Do you know how often they bankrupt these days? You want examples? Start my own business? And a voice inside you says: yes, I'm so tired of working for my uncle, I want my own business. But immediately it is muffled by a good deal of reasons and excuses explaining why it is risky. So, the third and very important tool is a tool that solves the problem of the fear of making a mistake. Let’s call it the "cult of mistake". Instead of being afraid of making mistakes, we will learn in detail, by examples, just like children do, and we will look closer at a tool called the "cult of mistake". We will learn to make mistakes, and this is what will allow you to evolve. These are the tools we will be dealing with. If you master these tools, your car will be ready for an exciting ride in the direction of finding the project of your life. Your body, mind, and soul will be in full readiness to accept the challenge thrown out by the upcoming changes and the absence of any guarantees, so that you could accept that challenge, and all the obstacles on your way with a smile on your face, and fight them bravely, aggressively dealing with the tasks set. For this we need a sufficient amount of fuel, energy and common sense, so this is what we are going to work on with you in this course. Fundamentals, the very beginning — and please forgive us for the fact that in this course you will not have a specific address yet, we won’t know where we will be able to use these skills. But meanwhile, the most important thing that we should master is to stop procrastinating. And what we will get when we have finished this course is the skill to set a goal and immediately start moving towards its realization. For many people this is the answer to the question of self-fulfillment. Many times during the course I got feedback from my students: "You know, Pavel, I've heard enough. After I realized there are no guarantees and learned to see positive solutions in the direction that I chose, or some other tool that could help to remove the restrictions, I began to immediately move in the direction of my lifetime project.” Many people, in fact, have the address, but are simply afraid to acknowledge that. They are pressed by external signals and can’t hear their inner voice. At this stage, you can let yourself move along the chosen path. So, the most important stage is to make sure your racing car is ready for a ride, and, finally, start. And any dream you will see as enticing will turn into a daily must-do for you. And the most worthy tasks will cease to be postponed until later. This is what we will be working on. Welcome to the course!
